Hamas has launched a campaign to combat “extremist ideology” in the Gaza Strip, a senior official of the movement announced Saturday.

Hassan al-Saifi, deputy minister of Wakf and Religious Affairs, was quoted by the Turkish Anadolu Agency as saying that mosque preachers sought on Friday to raise worshipers’ awareness to “centrist ideology” and the need to distance themselves from extremist groups and ideology.

He said the Friday sermons initiated by his ministry, in cooperation with a number of Islamic scholars and imams, were aimed at combating “erratic and radical ideology.”